Necessity of Linguistic Contextin Teaching Vocabulary in EFL/ESL Classroom

Abstract

ThepropositioninthisresearchpaperisaboutsignificanceoflinguisticcontextinteachingEnglishvocabulary; particularly, when English is a foreign or second language to learners. As part ofrational argument, the investigation brings forth some theoretical and functional concepts relatedto Language Acquisitionand Language Learning. Unlike acquisition, learning is a consciousprocess. Hence, learning entails an appropriate context to provide connection between words andtheir accurate meanings. Functional perspective of language emphasizes that context is thepredominant precursor of language. In linguistic spectrum of a language, context is connected tosemantics,lexico-grammar,phonologyandphoneticsofalanguage.Withthisfunctionalviewpointaboutlanguageanditsusage,apilotstudywasconductedinsupportoftheproposition.According to its findings, the nature of vocabulary errors made by learners evidently reflects thatvarious contexts provided while teaching are insufficient to learn meaningfully accurate wordswithaptnessfor realcontext.

It is observed in many Indian English classes that teaching vocabulary is deviant from linguisticcontext. Consequently, it is reflected in learners’ improper choice of words and their usage.Linguistic context has theoretical association with Halliday (2004) in the view that grammar andvocabulary are two ends of single continuum; they are not separate. This study identifies thatintervention of both target language and first language constitutes linguistic context in teachingvocabulary.Onthewhole,thisresearchattemptstouncovertheinconsistencybetweentheoreticalnotions and practicalapplicationsofteaching.